Friends of Lackawanna on Tuesday celebrated Throop Borough Council’s decision to oppose Keystone Sanitary Landfill’s nearly 45-year expansion plan, while landfill officials didn’t expect it to make a major impact on the state’s review of the proposal.
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Tom Cummings allowed himself a long winter’s nap on Christmas Day. On Good Friday, Holy Saturday, Easter Sunday and his birthday, he was back burning the midnight oil, toiling on the $195 million sale of the Scranton Sewer Authority.
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PITTSTON — The marble statue of Christopher Columbus, damaged by an out-of-control car in December, returned to Pittston’s intersection of Kennedy Boulevard and South Main Street after a months-long restoration effort.
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The city swimming pools at Weston Field, above; Connell Park and Weston Park will close Saturday to end the 2017 summer swim seasons at those facilities, recreation official Tom Lynch said.
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Editor: The board of directors and officers of Lackawanna Pro Bono and I would like to thank the many Lackawanna County lawyers, who have donated their time and professional skills through Lackawanna Pro Bono, to provide free legal representation to people in our community who were living near the poverty level and facing urgent legal problems.

The generosity and commitment of our pro bono lawyers has been outstanding and commendable.

Impressively, over the past 10 years, these lawyers have donated more than $1 million in free legal services through Lackawanna Pro Bono. Since Lackawanna Pro Bono began operating in 1997, more than 350 local attorneys have donated their services to one or more of our clients, providing free representation in more than 2,100 cases and helping nearly 5,000 people.

Our clients were experiencing legal problems such as evictions, mortgage foreclosures, challenges to their unemployment compensation benefits, child custody, protection from abuse, and had no place else to turn for legal help.

Applying their professional skills and expertise, our pro bono lawyers have endeavored to resolve major crises in our clients' lives and to bring the ideal of equal justice for all closer to a reality for the individuals they served.

We are also grateful to the Lackawanna Bar Association and the many others within and outside the legal community who have supported Lackawanna Pro Bono financially and in other ways. We greatly appreciate their dedication and support.

To all who have made our work possible, many thanks and best wishes for a healthy, happy, and fulfilling new year.

SYLVIA H. HAHN

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,

LACKAWANNA PRO BONO

Job drought

Editor: We've all heard enough times and from enough different sources that the Social Security fund is going broke.

The government's solution to put off the inevitable day of zero balance in the Social Security fund is to gradually raise the retirement age to 70. On the face of it, that sounds pretty reasonable. After all, we are living longer and this simply means that more people will be collecting for longer periods of time. It's also something they love in D.C. - a quick and easy solution to a complex problem.

Well, here's a news flash for Washington. The crux of the problem is that those in their mid-50s today are in a sweat box at work. Should they lose their jobs, for whatever reason, they will be in for a world of hurt as they try to get another job at anywhere near the same amount of money.

Right now, unless you're a member of the United Auto Workers or a government worker, you have 10 or more years to hold your breath and take a job flipping burgers to survive before your Social Security retirement kicks in. Take it from me, I'm 70 and have been there.

According to reports, Lurie said Mr. Obama was "passionate about it," adding that the president said "it's never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail. And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.''

Now Mr. Vick says he wants another dog.

Society would never allow a child molester or a very violent person to adopt a vulnerable child, so we should never be in favor of allowing as severe an animal abuser as Vick is to adopt a vulnerable animal.

Michael Vick has admitted to forcing dogs to fight to the death, and being responsible for or personally hanging, shooting and drowning gentle dogs who were unwilling to fight. That was his way of punishing an innocent being who did not live up to his expectations or demands.

It would be far too dangerous to trust a vulnerable dog with him should he lose his temper because the puppy or dog did not follow orders or displeased him. Our responsibility as animal guardians is to protect other species, not purposely put them in harm's way.

When Vick throws a football thousands cheer. That has to be enough.

Leave the animals alone.

JULIA TAWYEA

LAKE ARIEL

Halt big spenders

Editor: During the recent election campaign, the Republicans harped on and on about the deficit. Of course they never mentioned that a large part of it was their fault.

The cost of the war in Iraq, the Bush tax cuts and the bank bailout can all be laid at the feet of the Republicans. Increased spending and tax cuts do not go well together. They spell disaster.

The bank bailout was needed because of the deregulation that Republicans passed into law. It allowed financial institutions to take never-before-seen risks with our money. When it all came crashing down, we had to spend over $700 billion to keep our economy afloat.

Deregulation is also to blame for the housing crisis. The loss of revenue from real estate taxes, real estate transfer taxes, sales taxes on building materials is devastating local and state budgets.

President Clinton left us a $230 billion surplus. Mr. Bush eliminated that surplus and ran up the highest deficit in U.S. history.

Elections are coming up in two years. If Republicans continue to build deficits, we should vote them out like we did the Democrats this time. We should continue voting out incumbents until we get a group in Washington that works for us instead of themselves and their ideologies.

DAVID G. WATKINS

SCRANTON

Fires disturbing

Editor: I find the incidents at the Diocese of Scranton very disturbing, as should everyone in our community.

The cathedral is a place of worship and should be respected by all, whether or not you agree with the practices of the Catholic religion and the diocese.

The person who is starting these fires obviously has some issues with the diocese and should seek help to work out his issues.

The people who worship at the cathedral should not have to be fearful when they go to church. This is Scranton , after all, not some extremist foreign country.

KIM ROSE

Scranton

Ghosts in Dunmore

Edior: As we watch the evolution of the Butler Street subsidence, are we doomed to be doomed to repeat?

Before the new Legislature gets too busy balancing a budget on the Marcellus Shale money, perhaps it might revisit George Santayana and the seasonably relevant Charles Dickens.

The crater is a visit from the Ghost of Energy Past; the "water" in Dimock, the Ghost of Energy Present.

The Ghost of Energy Yet to Come? Back to George Santayana.

BOB DAVIS

Dunmore

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